1. Field of The Invention
This invention relates to an optical recording and reproducing apparatus for recording a video signal and/or an audio signal on an optical disk and reproducing the video signal and/or the audio signal therefrom.
2. Description of The Related Art
Conventionally, an editing operation is performed by using a digital video tape recorder (VTR) in a broadcasting studio or the like in general. However, the efficiency in editing is considerably increased by using an optical disk, which excels in quickness of random access and retrieval of data, in stead of a VTR. A conventional optical recording and reproducing apparatus using an optical disk is provided with a single optical head and thus has a defect in that it is difficult for this conventional apparatus to handle high-speed transfer rate data obtained at the time of producing digital video signals. To eliminate this defect, a mass-data recording and reproducing system employing a plurality of optical heads has been devised as described in, for instance, Japanese Patent Application Laying-open Publication (Tokkyo Kokai Koho) Official Gazette No. S62-84441. However, the plurality of optical heads handles only sequences of video and audio data. Further, the conventional apparatus cannot achieve a continuous recording, a continuous reproducing, simultaneous recording and reproducing, a simultaneous recording, a simultaneous reproducing, what is called a following recording and what is called a following reproducing to be performed on an optical disk by handling a plurality of data by a group of independent heads utilizing multiple access which is another advantage of an optical disk.
The present invention is accomplished to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional apparatus.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an optical recording and reproducing apparatus which can record and reproduce a plurality of video and audio digital data on an optical disk and can realize a continuous recording, a continuous reproducing, a simultaneous recording, a simultaneous reproducing, what is called a following recording, what is called a following reproducing and simultaneous recording and reproducing, which are effective for editing operations in a broadcasting studio or the like.